Statistical properties of currents flowing through tunnel junctions

TL;DR

This paper reviews the statistical characteristics of tunnel currents in metal-insulator-metal junctions, highlighting how broad distributions influence current inhomogeneities and size dependence, modeled primarily by a lognormal distribution.

Contribution

It provides an overview of the statistical properties of tunnel currents, emphasizing the role of broad distributions and their impact on current inhomogeneities and size effects.

Findings

Current inhomogeneities can be modeled by a lognormal distribution.

Broad distributions modify size dependence of tunnel currents at small scales.

Experimental data supports the lognormal modeling approach.

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the statistical properties arising from the broadness of the distribution of tunnel currents in metal-insulator-metal tunnel junctions. Experimental current inhomogeneities can be modelled by a lognormal distribution and the size dependence of the tunnel current is modified at small sizes by the effect of broad distributions.